


All the Quads Are My Friends

by never_love_a_wild_thing



Series: Thiam Half Birthday 2018 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Skating, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Liam Has a Crush, M/M, Minor Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Oblivious, Social Media, Theo has a crush, World Figure Skating Championships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 00:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14965568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/never_love_a_wild_thing/pseuds/never_love_a_wild_thing
Summary: Liam and Theo go to Figure Skating Worlds in Milan, ready to prove themselves to the skating world and end up falling in love along the way.For Thiam Half Birthday day 2: Celebrities and Careers AU.





	All the Quads Are My Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [manonlemelon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/manonlemelon/gifts).



> Thanks to Manon for always ranting about figure skating and especially Yuzuru Hanyu with me!  
> This fic was previously a hot mess and is now slightly less of a hot mess, so please bear with me :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Some people were saying that Liam was crazy for taking Scott McCall on as his new coach. Scott had been the top of the figure skating world until he had retired after his last Worlds two years ago, and Liam had always looked up to him, but there was a lot of doubt that someone so young, someone who still had so much talent, would be anything to rival experts like Brian Orser and Eleri Tutberidze. But Liam had started training with him over a year ago and hadn’t looked back. Scott was a perfectionist, but fair and treated Liam like a younger brother. Everything had been perfect until Theo Raeken had come along.

Scott chose a strange set of skaters to coach, it was true, but Liam ended up being friendly with most of them. With Theo, though, the first half of the year had been rough. They were used to seeing each other around, going head to head over every medal, being compared to each other with every competition, but spending so much time together at the rink threw a different light on things. And after a month or so of working to hard to one-up each other in practice and getting distracted almost to the point of obsession by whatever their rink mate was working on, Scott had stepped in.

It’s not about being better than each other, he told them, it’s about being better than yourself. Nobody gets built up by tearing other people down. You don’t have to be best friends, but you have to stop competing with each other. Find the internal drive to push yourself and support each other.

It was like the flip of a switch. The next day, Theo forgot his headphones, so Liam lent him his. Theo helped Liam with his quad Salchow when Scott wasn’t looking, and suddenly, they weren’t just watching out for each other anymore. They were friends.

 

Liam pushed his way through the door of their hotel room in Milan, holding it open with his elbow just long enough for Theo to catch it with his hip, eyes still glued to his phone as he rolled his suitcase in ahead of him, sleeve of his jacket held tightly between his teeth. Liam rolled his eyes, dropping his own suitcase at the foot of one of the beds and snatching the jacket out of Theo’s mouth.

“Seriously, quit it with the Instagram for like five minutes,” he told him, tossing the jacket onto Theo’s bed and going to inspect the rest of the room.

“I’m on Twitter,” Theo informed him, but tucked the phone into his pocket anyways, and flopped onto the bed. “How does it look?” he called after Liam.

Liam pushed the window next to his bed open and looked out at the city. It wasn’t the most visually appealing part of Milan, but it was close to the rink where Worlds were being held, so he couldn’t complain.

“Not bad. The bathroom’s kind of small, but it’s fine,” he shrugged, “It’s not like we’ll spend that much time in here anyways.”

“There’s a shower, right?” Theo asked.

“Yes, there’s a – “ he turned to look at Theo, “Why wouldn’t there be a shower?”

Theo grinned and launched himself off of the bed towards the bathroom, shouting, “Dibs!”

“Wait!” Liam raced after him, realizing that he would now be at Theo’s mercy as to whether or not he would be able to shower the stale plane air off of him before dinner or not, but he was too late, and the bathroom door flew shut in his face.

“You suck!” he shouted through the door and slunk back to his bed, where he collapsed, pulling out his phone and going on to Twitter to see what Theo had been up to. At least the fresh air from the open window felt nice on his face.

Theo was petty, but he also had to share a room with Liam, so ten minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, towel wrapped precariously around his waist, and said, “All yours.”

Liam tore his eyes away from the dark trail of hair leading from Theo’s bellybutton down below the white line of the towel, and darted into the bathroom, taking the opportunity while it lasted. That was the other thing. Not only had Liam decided he liked Theo enough to be friends with him, but he had realized that he was pretty sure he liked Theo even more than that.

It had happened quickly once they had become friends, and he was mostly used to it by now, comfortable with the way his heart sped up when Theo smiled and his lips broke out into a huge grin without consulting him when he watched Theo skate. There was something about him that was just…beautiful.

Theo had had a hard time of it. His parents had been famous skaters too and had sent him to Russia when he was young to train with only the best Russian coaches. Liam remembered being completely intimidated by the young Theo Raeken at all of the Juniors competitions. He never got along well with other skaters and he had a hell of an attitude, but he had been the best skater in the Juniors division for years. It was his second season of seniors that everything changed. The air of confidence had disappeared, and he had withdrawn into himself. His skating suffered, and it wasn’t until later, after they had become friends, that Liam had found out why.

Theo’s parents didn’t talk to him. They had both won golds in their first two years of senior, while Theo continued to struggle to get onto the podium. They had mostly left the parenting to the coaches in the first place, but by that point, they had given him up entirely. His coaches as well had given up on him. There were rumors that at least one of his coaches only focused on training young skaters, and, while others might do fine on their own, Theo had ended up with nobody to support him. Until Scott came along.

He had been skating with Scott for about six months, and for all three of them, this season’s World’s was the stage to prove themselves to the world. For Theo to prove that he was still a good skater, for Scott to prove that he could be a good coach, and for Liam to prove that he had made the right decision in going to train with Scott. It was all on the line.

_I could win,_ Liam’s brain thought without his permission as he turned the shower off, _Yuzuru Hanyu’s not skating Worlds this year…_

_No,_ he told himself firmly, _Don’t think about that. I’m just here to skate. I’m just going to skate my best and –_

“Liam! Hurry up!” Theo shouted, “Scott says to meet him in the lobby so we can get dinner!”

Liam shook his head, trying to dislodge the conversation with himself, and grabbed a towel, drying off in a hurry and then wrapping it around his waist. Theo was laying spread eagle on his bed when Liam came out of the bathroom, looking in absolutely no hurry to get downstairs, playing on his phone.

“Hey, you’re a history nerd,” Theo said, as Liam crossed the room to his suitcase. Liam rolled his eyes. “What’s a Greek island with spiraling paths that made it easy to pick off enemies?”

“Mykonos,” Liam said, turning away from Theo and dropping his towel, pulling his underwear on as quickly as he could. Theo had seen his dick before, more than once, but Liam didn’t like to think about Theo looking at his dick when Theo could see exactly what effect those thoughts had on it.

Theo was quiet for a second, and then he said, “Loser. How do you even know that?”

“I read,” Liam looked over his shoulder as he buttoned his pants. Theo wasn’t looking at him, but it was possible that the tips of his ears had turned a little pink.

“Whatever,” Theo locked his phone and rolled off his bed and onto his feet, grabbing his jacket. “Let’s go.”

“Theo, I’m not wearing – “

Theo pulled the door open and Liam wrenched his shirt over his head, snatching his jacket off of his bed and shoving his feet into his shoes on the way out the door.

“You suck,” he informed him as Theo pressed the button for the elevator.

“So I’ve been told,” Theo grinned brightly at him.

Scott was waiting in the lobby, texting with a goofy smile on his face that meant it was probably Isaac on the other end.

“Ready to go?” he asked, when they joined him.

“Isn’t anybody else coming?” Liam asked, looking around the lobby for their other two rink mates.

“Isaac’s taking a nap and Hayden’s having dinner with her sister,” Scott shrugged with a smile, “So I guess it’s just us.”

“If you’re sick of me already it’s going to be a long week, Sunshine,” Theo told him, causing Liam to elbow him hard in the ribs.

“On second thought,” Scott grinned, “Maybe I should tell Isaac to get his lazy ass out of bed just so there’s a buffer.”

“We’ll be fine,” Liam insisted, “We don’t need a buffer.”

“I meant for me,” Scott laughed, good-natured as always.

Dinner was easy. Things always were with Scott. He had nothing but patience when it came to settling Liam and Theo, which was probably the only reason they could handle being rink mates in the first place.

It was absolutely pouring by the time they left the restaurant, rushing to find the first cab they could to take them back to the hotel. Unsurprisingly, Theo was a total shit and pushed Liam into a huge puddle next to the sidewalk that went over his ankles, water soaking his jeans and filling his shoes.

He was in a terrible mood when they trudged back into their hotel room, Theo snatching the key from Liam’s shaking hands and letting them in. Theo had a really annoying habit of being nice to Liam when Liam was trying to be mad at him.

“Maybe you should take a bath,” he suggested, pushing the door open for Liam.

“We have to get up early,” Liam reminded him, “I just want to watch a movie and fall asleep.”

“Uh – “

“ _What?_ ” Liam snapped, turning to face Theo as the door fell shut behind him.

“Just – did you leave the window next to your bed open?” Theo asked carefully.

Liam whipped around, eyes fixing on the curtains that hung damply around the window, rain coming in sideways. He was across the room in the blink of an eye, noticing the wet patch on the ground as he pulled the window shut. When he placed a hand on the covers, it came away wet and he stared at Theo.

“This is your fault,” Liam told him, feeling the anger rising, unbidden, inside, “I’m taking your bed.”

“What? How exactly is this my fault?” Theo argued.

“You pushed me into a puddle! A really big puddle, by the way!” Liam reminded him.

“What does that have to do with you leaving the window open?” The asked, not backing down. That was one of the things that Liam loved about Theo. He never backed down, even when Liam get a little hotheaded.

It was maybe a good point. “Everything!” Liam decided.

Theo rolled his eyes, effortlessly dissipating the tension. “We can probably call down to the front desk and ask for new blankets,” he offered.

“No,” Liam sighed, already making his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth, “I just want to go to sleep.”

“Where do you think you’re going to sleep?” Theo asked, eyes wide as he watched Liam.

“In your bed,” Liam informed him.

“I’m not giving up my bed just because you’re an idiot,” Theo scowled.

“I didn’t say you had to,” Liam said, “We can share.”

Theo stared at him, but Liam went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and started getting ready for bed. This was a bad idea. A terrible idea, actually. He and Theo shared rooms all the time and sometimes they laid on the same bed to watch a movie on one of their laptops or something, but Liam felt like he was crossing a line asking Theo to share a bed with him. He wasn’t sure if he could handle being so close to Theo while he slept either.

When he came out of the bathroom, Theo was laying across his bed, scrolling through Instagram.

“Who were you talking to on the phone?” he asked, tossing his clothes onto the floor next to his (thankfully dry) suitcase, partly because he actually was that lazy and partly because he knew it drove Theo crazy.

“Front desk,” Theo said, locking his phone and rolling off of his bed, “They can’t really do anything because it’s wet to the mattress and the hotel is totally booked for Worlds.”

“Oh…” Liam said, slightly disappointed that he had actually called, no matter how much sense it made. “I can sleep on the floor, if you want?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Theo told him on his way to the bathroom, “We both have to skate tomorrow. Nobody’s sleeping on the floor.”

So Liam was left alone with one dry bed and the prospect of jet lag in the morning. It shouldn’t make him mad. He had brought this on himself.

It was less awkward than he had thought it would be. Theo came out of the bathroom in his pajama pants, no shirt, as usual (Liam had almost gotten used to that. Almost.), when Liam was still sitting on the dry bed, pulling up their list of movies that he and Theo were continually adding to for them to watch later on his laptop.

“What are we watching, Sunshine?” Theo asked, pulling back the covers and flopping onto the bed, grabbing his phone off of the nightstand to set the alarm.

“I don’t know,” Liam said, shoving the computer towards Theo and wriggling his way under the covers, “Pick something.”

 

The alarm went off far too early the next morning, but Liam didn’t even remember falling asleep. He could feel Theo moving around next to him, trying to find his phone without looking, and pulled his pillow over his head with a groan.

“Shut it off,” he croaked, voice muffled by the pillow. A few sends later, the horrific noise stopped and the room was peacefully quiet. For all of ten seconds.

The pillow was plucked unceremoniously from his head and the blankets pulled back. “Get up!” Theo shouted in his ear. “Scott wants us at the rink bright and early. Hayden’s skating and then we have the opening ceremony.”

Liam groaned louder.

“Fine,” Theo said. The pillow fell onto Liam’s back too fast to be dropped. He flipped him off, still without looking. “If you want to skip practice and totally bomb your short program tomorrow, I’m not stopping you. Less competition for me.”

Liam sat up and chucked the pillow after him, but Theo had already disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

 

Liam didn’t check his Twitter until he and Theo were having breakfast with Scott, Isaac, and Hayden downstairs in the hotel.

“Um. Why did I get over 3,000 mentions over night?” he asked, confused, “Worlds hasn’t even started yet, technically.”

Next to him, Theo hid a smile in his coffee. Liam didn’t notice but scrolled through the tweets.

“I wasn’t trending,” Hayden said, “So I guess it’s not everyone. Maybe someone posted a picture of you?”

“But we haven’t even seen anyone yet – “ Liam’s eyes narrowed and he went onto Theo’s Twitter.

“Found it!” Isaac said, just as Liam saw the tweet. It was a picture, clearly from last night, in the dark hotel room with only the glow from the computer illuminating their faces. Liam was fast asleep with his head on Theo’s shoulder, tucked a little into his neck. His hand was fisted loosely into Theo’s shirt. Theo was wide awake, smiling at the camera that he held with one hand while the other gave Liam bunny ears. The only words were “Hey there Milan. #Jetlagged #WorldFigure #FigureSkating #Thiam #Milan @liamdunbar”.

“Theo!” Liam shouted, “You can’t just post pictures of me when I’m sleeping!”

“Aw, but you were so cute, though!” Theo smirked at him. Liam decidedly did _not_ blush. “I don’t think you can even see the drool in that picture.”

Liam gaped at him, trying to figure out how to express his unbridled fury without actually killing anyone. “I do. Not. Drool.” He gritted out.

Scott, who was returning to the table with a plate of breakfast jumped into the conversation with blissful ignorance. “Yeah, you do, Liam,” he said brightly, “But not a lot, don’t worry.”

“Buckets full,” Theo told him, clearly enjoying himself far too much.

“Scott,” Liam complained, painfully aware of how much he sounded like he was whining, “Theo posted a picture of me sleeping on Twitter.”

“And the world thinks it’s adorable,” Theo added, “You’re welcome.”

“You tagged it #thiam!” Liam argued, “Of course they think it’s adorable! They probably think we’re like… _dating_ now.” He blushed and looked away.

Nobody said anything for a minute or two.

“Theo,” Scott sighed, “I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to be your parent, but you should maybe ask people before you post their picture online.”

“I know,” Theo said, sounding annoyed for some reason.

“Guys,” Hayden said suddenly, as if she had only just realized it, “I have to skate today.”

 

Liam ignored Theo all the way to the rink, leaving him the first chance he got in favor of going over to say hi to some of his friends as he laced up his skates. Shoma and Boyang were mellowed out enough that early in the morning, and Liam had some space to think. By the time they were stepping onto the ice for official practice, he had decided that he was really more embarrassed than angry after all. And it had only taken him about an hour to figure that out.

He was gliding along the ice, feeling more free than he had in a few days, trying to get his head in the right place to start running through his programs. Skates were scraping the ice all around him, creating that soothing hush that he loved so much, but a scrape of skates behind him made him turn his head just a little (he knew everyone on the ice at this point, after all) and a pair of hands slipped into his from behind.

“I’m sorry,” Theo said quietly, allowing Liam to pull him along, “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“Probably not,” Liam agreed, “I’m not mad though.”

“Really?” Theo asked doubtfully, “Because you kind of seem mad.”

“You took a picture of me asleep on your shoulder!” he reminded him, turning abruptly and stopping in front of Theo, “I’m kind of embarrassed.”

Theo stared at him for a second, green eyes scrutinizing. “You shouldn’t be,” he said finally, “You looked cute.”

He skated away just as Scott started yelling at them to stop goofing off and start practicing, and Liam stared after him. _What?_

He shook his head, trying to clear out thoughts that weren’t about skating, and let himself fall into the mindset of practicing. Despite the mindfuck that was Theo Raeken, it really wasn’t too hard. He had a competition to win after all.

 

Hayden did well with her short program, only underrotating on one of her jumps (which was good since she had a major tendency towards underrotating) and adding a point to her personal best. They sat through the opening ceremony afterwards, Scott trying to keep them out of too much trouble, and then went out for dinner again before heading back to the hotel.

“Nervous?” Isaac asked, walking with Liam a little behind Scott and Hayden, who were still comparing notes, and a little ahead of Theo, who was absorbed into social media again.

Liam shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t competed in Worlds before, but there’s kind of a lot riding on this,” he glanced at the back of Scott’s head.

“He’s fine,” Isaac assured him, “He knows this is about you guys and not him.”

“It’s a little about him, though,” Liam admitted, “It feels like the whole world is watching to see how he does as a coach.”

“Yeah,” Isaac agreed slowly, “But _we_ know he’s a good coach, right?”

“The best,” Liam said loyally.

Isaac snorted. “So if you’re not nervous about competing, then what’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” he looked quickly at Isaac and then away, as if Isaac would be able to look straight through his eyes into his heart and see Theo. Liam wasn’t any less confused about what had happened on the rink than he had been that morning and to be honest, it was starting to stress him out a little.

“You’re just acting kinda weird,” Isaac shrugged, “With Theo especially. Did something happen? I thought you forgave him about the Twitter thing.”

“I did,” Liam blushed as he kicked a crushed plastic cup across the sidewalk.

“ _Oh_ ,” he could hear the amusement in Isaac’s voice, “You like him.”

“No, I don’t!” Liam growled up at him, “Shut up!”

Isaac’s face broke out into it’s broad grin. “Yes, you do!” he said gleefully, “Oh you _so_ do! That’s why you were so mad at him this morning! This is going to be so fun!”

“Shut up!” Liam repeated, “Don’t you dare tell him!”

“Tell who what?” Theo asked, coming up on the other side of him, finally tucking his phone away.

“Nothing!” Liam said too quickly to probably come across as casually as he wanted.

Theo side-eyed him for a minute and then shrugged, which was both a relief and totally terrifying because Theo never let anything go. Ever.

“Anyways,” Theo continued, “Did you see this video someone posted of us?” His phone was out again, going into Instagram and onto the _#Thiam_ tag.

Liam and Isaac watched over his shoulder as a shaky phone video played out of Liam skating along and Theo sliding up behind him. Liam hadn’t noticed then, but his hands went back almost on instinct to catch Theo’s and a tiny smile slid onto his face as they skated along, talking. The video started from the beginning again and Liam watched Theo’s face this time, determined, then surprised, then happy, smiling wider then usual whenever Liam talked to him.

“Why did somebody _film_ that?” he wondered, shoving Theo’s phone away as Isaac laughed.

“Because they ship us, Sunshine,” Theo told him, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

Liam stared at him blankly. “What?” he asked.

“You don’t know what shipping is?” Isaac asked incredulously.

“No, do you?” Liam frowned at him.

“When the fans want you to be in a relation _ship_ ,” Theo explained.

“Me and Scott are called Scisaac,” Isaac said proudly, “That’s where #thiam comes from.”

Liam rolled his eyes and picked up his pace to walk with Scott and Hayden, leaving Theo and Isaac laughing behind him.

 

Liam had almost fallen completely asleep when the tossing and turning started. “Cut it out,” he hissed through the dark, “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Sorry,” Theo whispered. He lay still for about ten seconds and then shifted around again.

“Theo, I swear to god – “

“I know, I’m sorry,” he said quickly, sounding almost embarrassed.

Liam flipped over to see Theo laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “Are you nervous?” he asked.

“Shut up,” Theo gritted out. He turned his head to look at Liam. “Yeah,” he admitted quietly, “Kind of.”

Liam would be the first to admit that he didn’t always think things through all the way before doing them, and this time was no different. He pushed Theo so that he was facing away from Liam and then cuddled up behind him, slipping one arm over his waist, since, he told himself, there wasn’t really anywhere else to put it.

“Are you… _spooning_ me?” Theo asked incredulously.

“Shh,” Liam told him, trying to ignore how his breath made the little hairs on the back of Theo’s neck stand up. “If you take a picture and post it on the internet again, I will murder you. Violently.”

Theo chuckled, his back vibrating against Liam’s chest making him smile. “Noted,” he said, already sounding more tired than he had all night. Liam felt their breathing rise and fall together and his eyelids drooped. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

 

Theo was gone when Liam woke up the next morning, alarm blaring in his ear, head resting on Theo’s pillow for some reason. He didn’t come back until Liam was just about to go down to breakfast, looking sweaty and a little out of breath but wide awake.

“Hey,” Liam said. He had already spent the past fifteen minutes wondering if Theo was mad at him for some reason. Maybe he felt awkward from cuddling with Liam the night before. Maybe that had been one step too far. “Where were you?”

“Working out,” Theo replied shortly, going straight into the bathroom and closing the door.

“Are you coming down to breakfast?” Liam yelled through the door.

“Go ahead,” Theo’s voice replied after a minute, “I’ll be right down.”

Liam frowned, but grabbed his bag and headed downstairs.

“Where’s Theo?” Hayden asked in confusion when Liam took a seat at their table alone.

“Taking a shower, I guess,” Liam said moodily, “He got up way earlier than me to work out.” He wasn’t sure why it made him so mad. Surely Theo was allowed to have alone time, right?

“He gets really bad nerves,” Scott explained, “Maybe it’s because of his parents, I don’t know. He has this really intense drive for perfection, which is good for some people, I guess, but not so much for him.”

“Oh,” Liam said blankly, “Yeah, he couldn’t really sleep at first last night…”

Scott looked at him over his coffee. “Did you find something that helped him?” he asked curiously, “I’ve been trying for months.”

Liam shrugged, feeling himself blush. “I just, um…”

Scott’s stare became even more incredulous. “If you’re sucking him off or something to keep him from getting nervous, I’m not sure that’s a sacrifice I can make,” he said honestly.

Liam felt his face turn pink again. He was honestly blushing more than not these days. “What?! No! Nothing like that!” Liam protested quickly, “We just cuddled!”

Isaac snorted. “Yeah, cause that makes it better,” he said.

Scott shot him a quelling look. “Well, whatever helps,” he said gently to Liam, “And hey if you could try that some more before he skates this afternoon, that would be great.”

Liam wanted to slam his head against the wall. “I don’t think he wants me to,” he grunted.

Theo didn’t show up until five minutes before they left and only ate because Scott bullied him into it. He seemed a bit out of it at practice, and Liam tried to ignore the meaningful looks that Scott was shooting at him. Eventually, Theo looked so pitiful, stretching against the wall on his own, that Liam gave in.

“Hey,” he said, sitting down next to him with his foam roller.

“Hey,” Theo pulled out one headphone and looked at him questioningly.

“What’s up?” Liam asked.

“I’m trying to go through my program, actually,” Theo said distractedly, “So if you don’t – “

“Great!” Liam said, not really paying attention as he looked around at the other skaters in the room. He stood up and grabbed Theo’s arm. “Come with me.”

Theo sighed heavily but got to his feet and followed Liam out of the warm-up room and around the corner into a hallway and then into a secluded nook.

“Liam, where are you – “

Liam cut him off mid-sentence, wrapping his arms around Theo, pulling him close enough to (inadvertently) be able to smell his hair gel.

“What is this?” He asked in surprise.

“It’s a hug, Theo, I’m hugging you,” Liam told him, rolling his eyes, even though Theo couldn’t see it.

“Disgusting,” Theo replied, “Keep doing it.” His hands wrapped slowly around Liam’s back, returning the hug.

“I’m okay, you know,” he said after a while

“First of all,” Liam told him, still hugging him, even though the hug was beginning to become awkwardly long, “You are ridiculous. You’re like a walking meme. Stop it. Second, I know you’re not okay, but I also need you to skate as well as you possibly can so that I actually have to _try_ to kick your ass.”

Theo snorted and Liam finally let him go. “That’s really motivating. Thanks Liam,” he rolled his eyes, but there was an upwards curl to the corners of his lips.

“Yeah, no problem,” Liam smiled back, “Anyways, Scott’s probably looking for us. I think Isaac’s skating soon.”

 

Isaac scored a new personal best as well but didn’t manage to pass first place. He hardly seemed put out by it at all, kissing Scott in celebration in the kiss and cry and the proceeding to fall asleep in costume in the warm-up room. Liam momentarily wished that he had Isaac’s apathy, but the looked at Theo and decided that Theo definitely needed it more.

He had seen him nervous before, both when they skated against each other and since they had become rink mates, but it had never been this bad.

“Was he like this at Worlds last year?” Liam asked Scott, watching Theo worriedly as he did lunges across the room.

“He wasn’t at Worlds last year,” Scott said, looking curiously at him.

“What do you mean?” Liam wondered.

Scott shrugged. “It was kind of a big thing, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. The official story was that he was sick, but he told me that he had a panic attack and left his coach the day before the short program. He was going to quit skating for good.”

“So why didn’t he?” Liam watched Scott signal to Theo that it was time to go.

“I started coaching,” Scott said simply, and led the way back out to the rink.

Theo pulled the headphones out of his ears and handed them to Scott along with his skate guards as the six-minute warm up was announced. Liam would have been more worried about the dark look on his face if he hadn’t been stepping out onto the ice to warm up too.

There were a lot of people in the stadium, noisily watching the skaters warm up. Maybe they knew everyone’s programs by heart already. Maybe they had no idea what they were about to see besides world class figure skating. It wasn’t for Liam to worry about, he reminded himself as he glided across the ice, cold air brushing his face. He practiced his triple axel-quad toe loop over and over until it was in his body and then marked through his program, practicing the jumps full-out when he came to them.

The end of warm ups was announced and Liam skated off the ice, passing Theo, who was skating to the barrier to get some water and a tissue from Scott.

“You’re gonna do great, right?” he said, accepting his skate guards from Scott.

“ _Yes,_ Liam,” Theo said, “I’ll beat your best score.”

“You better,” Liam grinned at him, holding out a fist for a fist-bump. Theo smashed their knuckles together painfully and tossed Scott his warm-up jacket, smirking over his shoulder at them as he skated away.

“Huh,” Scott said.

“What?” Liam asked, unable to tear his eyes away from Theo’s costume. It was almost entirely black, the top sheer with thick clusters of silver sparkles shooting strategically across his body in trails of glitter, the bottom solid black pants that clung tightly to his legs and did wonders for an already frankly amazing ass. If Liam didn’t know better, he would have said that Theo had that costume made with the express purpose of driving Liam crazy. The flexing of his arms as he ran one hand through already-perfect hair didn’t help.

“He seems almost okay now,” Scott said wonderingly, “Did you talk to him?”

“Sort of, yeah,” Liam shrugged as Theo’s name was announced and he presented himself to the crowd, skating in a wide circle before coming to rest in his opening pose at the center of the ice.

“Huh,” was all Scott said before the music began to play.

Liam had seen this program over and over again, countless times, even before the season started, but there was something about it that he could never really get over. _War of Hearts_ was intense and dramatic. Theo could be like that, but the better Liam knew him the less often it happened. But as soon as the music began, every single time, his eyes went dark with intense focus, his smile warped into an expression that was both wild and serious at the same time. His limbs moved with the steady, creeping grace of a predator and then burst into jumps with a constantly surprising amount of energy, before falling back into the graceful slide of skates against the ice. Liam hadn’t been a hundred percent sure that he was in love with Theo until the first time he saw him skate this in competition.

He finished with as much intensity and grace as he started with and then was all smiles and waves as flowers and coyote plushies rained down on him. He skated off of the ice, picking up one or two things from the ice, and giving a last wave to the crowd before accepting his skate guards from Scott, his brilliant smile falling to a very tired and much more real one.

“Underrotated at least two of those,” he said, breath still coming short. He thrust something in Liam’s face. “I think this is for you.”

Liam tore his eyes off of Theo, his skin glistening with sweat, the sheer top so much more so up close, his hair tousled and his eyes bright to match his pink cheeks, to look at the soft object in his hands. It was a stuffed wolf. “Oh,” he said accepting it, “They probably figured it didn’t matter between a wolf and a coyote,” he tried.

“Then take this too and let me call it a gift,” Theo said, shoving a rose at him as well. Their fingers brushed, which shouldn’t have made Liam’s heart race, but it did, and their eyes stayed locked onto each other.

“Theo,” Scott interrupted, “Let’s go get your scores. Liam, go back and keep your body warm there are still a few skaters before you’re up.”

Theo walked away with Scott and Liam watched them for a minute before remembering that Scott had just given him instructions.

He didn’t know what to think. His brain was confused and full of so much besides skating. Mostly Theo, really. He should have known how it would be before he even got on the ice, but strangely enough, it wasn’t until his first jump that he realized something was wrong. Two turns instead of three and he didn’t fall, but a hand came down to the ice to steady him in his landing. He swore but kept going. It was off. It was so off and he couldn’t shake himself out of it. He hadn’t prepared enough. He had let his mind wander too much, and it was _still_ wandering. He _had_ to stop thinking about Theo, at least for the next two minutes, but preferably for the next three days. It wasn’t working. He made it through without actually falling, although his hand might have come down to the ice again once or twice, and he was sure that a number of his jumps were underrotated. His quad had definitely turned into a triple. It wasn’t his worst program, if he was honest, but it was the worst he had done in a while, and he definitely wasn’t doing Scott any favors.

He took his bows shakily, waving in every direction before skating off towards the kiss and cry.

“That was terrible,” he told Scott as he stepped off the ice, “I don’t know what happened.”

“I do,” Scott said, looking as though dots were starting to connect in his brain, “We’ll talk about it back at the hotel, though. Come on, let’s get this over with. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” He herded Liam along to the kiss and cry to receive his scores.

“ _From the United States_ ,” the announcement came. Liam hung his head, “ _Liam Dunbar has earned in the men’s short program…82.72 points and is currently in third place.”_

Liam stared around in horror. Scott elbowed him in the side and he gave a weak smile and wave to the camera before allowing himself to be led back to the changing room. Theo was already there waiting for him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded as soon as Liam walked in, “That was terrible!”

Some of the other skaters looked at them in surprise or fear, but others didn’t even bat an eye.

“I know,” Liam grumbled, sitting down to unlace his skates, “Back off.”

“No, seriously,” Theo pressed, “What the hell? You push me and push me and you make me skate harder than I’ve ever skated in my life and then you go out on the ice and do _that_? Do you even listen to yourself? Ever?”

Liam wrenched off one skate and stood up again, having to bend one knee to try and even out his footing. “I said _back off_ ,” he shouted.

“No!” Theo said stubbornly, crossing his arms, “That seriously sucked. I know you can do better!”

“Yeah, well, you’re not my coach!” Liam told him.

“Newsflash, jackass, you’re not mine either!” Theo fumed.

Scott stormed into the room before Liam could retort. “Theo,” he said, “You can go watch the rest of the skating or you can go back to the hotel. But leave Liam alone.”

Theo looked like he was about to say something, eyes still fierce with anger, but he turned on his heel and left the room, Scott disappearing behind him, probably to make sure that he actually went.

Shoma glanced up and met Liam’s eyes as he sat down to work the other skate off. He shook his head, smiling slightly as he finished tying his laces, and then left.

“Shut up,” Liam said belatedly to an empty room.

 

Liam sat with some other skaters for the rest of the men’s programs, slowly watching himself sink lower and lower in the rankings. He could do this, he thought, he could bring his total score back up. There were some quads that he had wanted to put in his free skate that Scott had thought were a bad idea. As long as he could just stop thinking about Theo. And, hey, maybe it would work out this time since Theo apparently hated him now, Liam thought glumly.

He went to dinner with the same group of skaters and didn’t even see anyone in his training group until he got a text from Scott asking him to come straight to his room as soon as he got back to the hotel. Isaac, he said, was out with Theo and Hayden and some other skaters.

“It must make you feel kind of old,” Liam said when Scott let him into his room.

“What?” Scott asked.

“Everyone going out and having fun while you’re stuck in a hotel room lecturing your skaters,” he shrugged, falling into the cushy desk chair.

“I’m not going to lecture you, Liam,” Scott said patiently.

“Are you sure?” Liam asked, swinging back and forth in the chair, “I kind of feel like you are.”

“I just want to know what’s going on with you,” Scott insisted, sitting on the edge of the bed, “I know you’ve been working really hard at both of your programs, so I figured maybe there was something on your mind.”

“You know!” Liam said accusingly, “Did Isaac tell you? I told him not to tell anybody.”

“He didn’t really need to tell me, and anyways, I would rather hear it from you,” Scott told him diplomatically.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Liam grumbled.

“Tough shit,” Scott said, “You messed up today and there was a reason. We need to fix it tomorrow if you’re going to make up for the points you lost today.”

“He keeps doing stuff and I don’t know what it means, like obviously Theo doesn’t like me the way I like him, but maybe – “

“Did he tell you that?” Scott asked.

“He doesn’t have to,” Liam replied flatly.

“Yes, he does,” Scott insisted, “Relationships aren’t a one-way street, you can’t just _assume_ what somebody feels about you.”

Liam raised is eyebrows doubtfully, turning a little to play with one of the pens on the desk. “Are you telling me that I should confess my undying love for Theo Raeken?”

“I’m saying you should tell him how you feel, yeah,” Scott answered ruthlessly.

“Well, what if he doesn’t feel the same?” Liam tried, “Is that supposed to make my skating better?”

“Then you skate out your anger or sadness or frustration. But you can’t skate on uncertainty,” he said.

Liam felt entirely outplayed and he hated it.

“If it helps,” Scott said, “I don’t think rejection is going to be a problem for you.”

And what, exactly, was _that_ supposed to mean?

 

Theo was already asleep when Liam got back to their room, so he went about getting ready as quietly as he could. Even with Theo snoring softly beside him, it wasn’t easy for Liam to fall asleep. In fact, he didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

Liam didn’t wake up to an alarm this time. The only events were ice dancing, which he figured they could use the practice ice during, and the women’s free-skate, which wasn’t until later in the evening. There was a comfortable weight to the blankets and a softness to the light in the room, which made Liam smile, shifting around a bit for maximum comfort. There was a sharp intake of breath behind him and the heaviness of the blankets was lifted away. It took Liam another few minutes to realize that it had actually been Theo’s arm weighing him down. He turned his head to look at Theo, who was rubbing his face tiredly.

“Sorry,” he said, voice thick with sleep.

“It’s okay,” Liam replied, hearing his own voice croak as well, “I don’t mind.”

Theo hummed, turning towards him again. “I thought you were mad at me,” he said. Maybe there was something wrong with Liam, but he found Theo’s morning voice ridiculously sexy.

“Why would I be mad at you?” Liam asked, trying to get his sleep-addled brain to function past _wow Theo’s hair looks so soft, he’s so cute when he squints like that, how does he make muscles look soft and sexy at the same time???_

“You yelled at me,” Theo frowned slightly.

Liam thought about reaching out to smooth the wrinkles between his eyebrows away and then realized he was actually doing it and brought his hand back. “You yelled at me first,” Liam replied without any heat at all.

Theo smiled. Liam could smell his morning breath, but strangely enough, he didn’t really care. “I’m not mad,” he told Theo, finding that the corners of his beautiful green eyes crinkled in a smile.

“No,” Theo agreed. They spent maybe too long just staring at each other.

“What do you want to do today?” Liam asked finally.

“Besides lay in bed?” Theo said thoughtfully, “I guess we had better practice. I need to run through my exhibition skate too. Then maybe we should explore?”

Liam nodded. “Sounds good,” he agreed, “I really need to work on my free skate. Like, _hard_.”

“Think you can bring your total score back up?” Theo asked, shifting his head to a more comfortable position on his pillow, not seeming to notice that it moved him a little bit closer to Liam.

“I hope so,” Liam sighed, “I talked to Scott and we’re thinking I can try adding some quads to bump up the base value.”

“I can help,” Theo said, looking at Liam earnestly.

Liam frowned. “You still have your free skate and your ex to work on,” he reminded him, “Don’t throw it all away to help me.”

Theo smiled at him and then sat up, stretching. Liam watched, mesmerized, as the muscles flexed in his back. “Maybe I’m good enough to help your ass _and_ practice my own stuff,” he said cockily, “Ever think of that?”

Liam rolled his eyes and half-heartedly threw a pillow at him. Theo just laughed and slipped out of bed, scratching at the dark trail of hair leading from his bellybutton down into his boxers on the way into the bathroom. Just before the door close on him, Liam caught sight of a noticeable bulge in the front of his tight black boxer-briefs.

“ _Fuuuck_ ,” he whispered, flinging himself silently out of bed and looking for his phone. It was kind of surprising him that it had taken him so long to come to this. He shot off a text message to Theo telling him that he was going to get coffee and then slipped out of the room, already calling Mason.

“Do you have any idea what time it is here?” Mason complained.

“Yeah,” Liam rolled his eyes, “It’s only like 10pm, now stop complaining.”

“I saw you bombed yesterday,” Mason continued, unphased.

“Yeah, thanks,” Liam rolled his eyes, pressing the button for the elevator.

“What happened?”

“I just – Mase, Scott said I should tell Theo how I feel cause I can’t stop thinking about him, and – “

“Fucking finally,” Mason said, “It’s about time.”

“What? But – “

“No, you like him. He likes you. I don’t know where the question is there,” Mason said determinedly, and Liam got the feeling that he had been holding this in for a while.

“I just – “ the elevator dinged and Liam walked into the lobby, “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Of course you can!” Mason said quickly, “You’re not blind, Li. You see how he looks at you even if you choose to ignore it. Just, _please_ , for the sake of literally everyone, _do it_.”

“Uh…” Liam smiled at a waving fan who was on her way out the door and waved back before he realized that he was still in his pajamas. He hurried over to the buffet area and started making coffee. “Okay, I guess.”

“Great!” Mason said, “Perfect! Let me know how it goes tomorrow, or, you know, I guess I’ll just see how it goes when you skate right?”

“Yeah, thanks Mason,” Liam laughed.

“Any time, man,” Mason said cheerfully, and Liam hung up so that he could make a second cup of coffee.

 

It was already better. Liam felt confident in his program and mostly confident in the added quads. Theo helped him through a few of the rough transitions and gave him notes while Scott worked with Hayden, and then the two of them left for lunch, promising to be back by the Ladies’ Free Skate. Liam could tell that Isaac wanted to go with them at first, but then Scott whispered something in his ear and he gave Liam a thumbs-up with an obnoxious smirk, which made Liam roll his eyes so hard he thought for a second that they might actually fall out of his head.

“Where do you want to go for lunch?” Liam asked, as they walked back into the lobby of the hotel after dropping their bags off in their room.

Theo scrolled through his phone. “Kaetlyn posted this on her Instagram yesterday,” he said, turning his phone to Liam to show him a pretty spectacular photo of a huge bowl of pasta.

“Oh, I am so down with that,” Liam groaned, feeling his stomach rumble, “How far away is it?”

They ended up only having to walk about half an hour, but the restaurant was a lot nicer than either of them expected. Liam looked down at his clothes. He had changed out of his practice gear, but he was still dressed way too casually for a place like this. Both of them were.

“We could try somewhere else?” Theo suggested nervously.

“This is fine,” Liam decided, “I want that pasta she had.”

“I didn’t shower, though,” Theo hissed.

Liam looked at him. “You showered this morning, right?”

“Well, yeah…” Theo started.

“Then we’re good!” Liam said cheerfully, grabbing Theo’s hand and hauling him the rest of the way inside the restaurant and asking for a table, hand tingling with warmth as he held Theo’s hand all the way to the table.

“This is why people think we’re dating, by the way,” Theo told him when their server left.

“Well,” Liam said, already diving into the bread basket, “Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.” He looked up to find Theo staring at him.

“Seriously?” he asked in surprise, “You were really mad about it the other day, though.”

“I was just kind of embarrassed, I guess,” Liam said, shifting uncomfortably.

“So, you…don’t have a problem with people thinking we’re dating?” Liam looked up sharply at him.

“Do you?” he asked, feeling his heart start to race.

“No,” Theo said bluntly, meeting his eyes.

“Me neither,” Liam smiled, watching Theo’s lips form a smile in response.

“Quit eating so much bread,” Theo said suddenly, cheeks a little pink, “You’re not going to want the rest of your lunch.”

“That’s what you say,” Liam grinned, taking another bite of delicious, fluffy bread. “But I can eat forever. I never get full.”

 

Liam groaned.

“I told you to stop,” Theo said heartlessly, throwing his shopping bags to the side as he sat down on the cold ground next to Liam in the park.

“I ate. So. Much.”

“Yeah, and I told you to stop. Then you told me, quote: _I can eat forever. I never get full._ Unquote.”

Liam groaned again and suddenly Theo’s hand was on his stomach, rubbing calm circles.

“What are you doing?” he asked, blushing hard.

“It helps.”

“Oh,” Liam said, a little lost for words, “Thanks.”

“Actually, walking helps even more,” he continued.

“Fuck you, I said I can’t move,” Liam said, already feeling his eyes start to drift shut.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Theo scolded, “We have to make it back in time for Hayden’s free skate.”

“Mmm too late,” Liam sighed, moving around so that his head was propped on Theo’s thigh.

He heard a long sigh from above him and smiled. “You’re an idiot,” Theo told him with a note of fondness in his voice.

 

The rest of the day was easy. Liam thought about telling Theo over and over again about how he felt, but it never quite seemed like the right time.

By the time he was lying in bed, his feelings were all over the place. He had had a nice, relaxing day with Theo, and he almost even felt like they were on the same page, but there was that unsureness that Scott had talked about, and he knew that he had to say something.

The next morning, Liam and Theo didn’t roll apart from each other until the alarm had gone off twice. The easy feeling between them continued on from the day before, but now there was an underlying tension and Liam knew that something was going to happen sooner rather than later.

Liam could tell that Scott and Isaac were watching them closely all through breakfast, but Theo seemed oblivious. Liam avoided Scott as much as he could, not wanting to be cross-examined about what he had done with Theo the day before and if he had said anything to him yet.

_He doesn’t have a problem with people thinking we’re dating,_ Liam thought as he laced up his skates for practice.

_That doesn’t mean he wants to date you,_ another voice in his head reminded him.

_He called me cute,_ Liam remembered.

_He calls you a lot of things,_ the mean voice pointed out.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Theo said, pausing in front of him, “What are you doing?”

“Nothing!” Liam said quickly, standing up and taking a second to find his balance on top of the blades, “Let’s go!”

“Hey,” Theo said, as they made their way towards the ice, “How are you feeling about the quads?”

Liam looked at him. “Are you worrying about me?” he asked, a little surprised.

“No,” Theo insisted, “Okay, maybe. But you seriously sucked on Thursday. I don’t want to have to witness you crash and burn again today. It’s embarrassing.”

Liam felt himself starting to smile a little too softly and looked away. “I’ll be fine,” he assured him.

“If you say so,” Theo shrugged, but he saw his eyes on him for most of practice. It was bad enough that Liam’s overthinking was messing him up, but he wouldn’t let it interfere with Theo’s concentration too.

As soon as Scott motioned them off the ice, Liam made up his mind. He followed closely behind Scott, making eye contact, which Scott nodded at before turning his attention to Isaac, who would skate before Liam anyways.

“Hey, Theo,” he said, grabbing his arm as they walked out into the hall, “Come here a second.” Theo followed easily as he pulled him into the side hallway that they had been in just the other day.

Theo rolled his eyes. “What, are you going to hug me again?” he asked dryly.

“Of course not,” Liam said, heart pounding at what he was about to do as he drew even closer to Theo, “Gotta step up my game. This is the free-skate after all, gotta super-charge it.”

“Gotta super-super-super-charge it,” Theo corrected, sounding a little breathless as Liam stepped in closer.

For once, Liam ignored Theo’s incessant references. “Tell me if I’m reading this wrong,” he insisted, searching Theo’s eyes as a hand came up to cup the side of his face.

“You’re not,” Theo assured him, diving in just as Liam surged forwards, resulting in a clash of lips and teeth. They reeled back, both smiling embarrassedly, and then went back in, softer this time, a brush of lips that turned into pressing, licking, sucking, biting.

It seemed like a long time before they came up for air but also not long enough. Liam smiled at Theo, who smiled back, and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“It’s about damn time,” Theo said, “I thought I was being painfully obvious with how I felt about you, but apparently not.”

Liam stared at him, jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you say anything?” He hit him in the shoulder, “I was so confused. I couldn’t even think about my skating during my short program because you were just _there_.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault, hm?” Theo asked teasingly, pulling Liam closer.

“All your fault,” Liam agreed breathlessly, anticipating Theo’s lips on his again. He couldn’t have it fast enough.

A throat cleared a few feet away from them and they broke apart, Liam feeling himself blushing hotly.

“Isaac’s about to skate,” Scott told them, grinning widely, “Glad you figured it out.”

They followed Scott back to the rink and Theo pulled Liam in close to whisper, “Did _everyone_ know?”

“Probably,” Liam shrugged. He looked at Theo and found his hand with his own, lacing their fingers together.

Theo thought about it and then nodded. “People are so nosey,” he complained.

“Get used to it now,” Scott told them wisely over his shoulder, “It’s not going to go away any time soon.”

 

Isaac did well, but not well enough to maintain first for more than a few skaters after him. Liam, due to his terrible short program, was in the next warm up group, so he got ready as fast as he could, working at warming and stretching all of his limbs before going out onto the ice. He landed all of his jumps well in warmup and his hydroblade had never been steadier, but he didn’t let himself lose focus. He could feel Theo’s presence not so far away, but it wasn’t distracting. In fact, his energy was already threatening to explode and Liam was just waiting to get back on the ice to release it all into his free skate. It was more of a relief than anything for his skates to meet the ice again, blue costume sparkling under the lights, head held high as he greeted the crowd.

The music started, a hush falling over the rink, and Liam closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. There was nothing to think about this time. It was almost like someone or something else had taken control of his body. He could feel the familiar movements pushing him along, the effort that it took to get off the ground with enough power to turn four times in the air before absorbing the shock of the landing in sponge-like joints with an effortless grace that simply propelled him into the next movement. He was happy, he realized. Not _trying_ to be happy or thinking about happy things, it was just the state that he was in. And every move that he made fueled that and expressed it, and it suddenly seemed like an important thing to show people. That as what art was for, he supposed.

 It was over before he realized it, but the happiness didn’t leave him.

He felt his breath coming heavy, feeling totally satisfied with the program that he had just presented to the world. He took his bows with a wide smile, collecting a stuffed wolf here and a flower there, not even noticing that he was crying until he was off the ice, being wrapped tightly into Theo’s arms, Scott’s hand squeezing his shoulder.

“Hey,” Theo was whispering in his ear, “That was beautiful. _You’re_ beautiful. You almost made me cry.”

He looked up into Theo’s face with a blinding smile. “Really? Wow, I didn’t know you had feelings.”

“Shut up,” Theo rolled his eyes. For a second Liam thought he might kiss him, but then he seemed to remember where they were and simply pulled him back into a hug. “Just for you,” he whispered.

“Hey! I hate to break up the love fest, but I kind of need some credit here, Liam!” Scott laughed as Liam broke away from Theo to hug-attack his mentor.

“I nailed those quads, huh?” he laughed, impatiently brushing tears from his face.

Theo came in close again and wiped them away with his thumb and a wide smile. “Sure did, Sunshine,” he told him.

“Let’s go get your scores,” Scott suggested, and they left Theo to go back to warm up, making their way to the kiss and cry.

“That was the best I’ve ever seen you skate it,” Scott told him as they sat down.

“Yeah,” Liam sighed, “You were right, as always.”

Scott grinned at him. “Hey, as long as you’re happy and you skate well, right?” he said, wrapping him into a one-armed side-hug.

“I am,” Liam assured him, “Very happy.”

“ _From the United States,”_  The announcement came, “ _Liam Dunbar has earned in the men’s free-skate 182.16 points for a total of 264.88. He is currently in first place.”_

Liam stared at Scott in shock before being wrapped up in a tight hug. He probably wouldn’t get a medal with that score, not with skaters like Nathan Chen and Shoma Uno, but he would end up much higher than he could have hoped for since Thursday.

 

This time, Liam reveled in the fact that he could watch Theo with open admiration as he skated. He could appreciate the tightness of his pants and try to catch the movement of the muscles through the billowy white shirt. Theo was at his most beautiful on the ice, and this was no different today. The intensity was just as strong in his eyes, his limbs just as graceful, his jumps just as powerful. But as he stepped off of the ice, Liam thought that there was definitely something to be said for Theo just after he skated. He was beautiful this way too, in more of a raw, vulnerable way. His hair hung a little damply into his eyes, and his chest rose and fell with labored breath, even as a smile curled onto his lips, eyes sparkling brightly. He looked completely drained and completely happy, like he had left every ounce of his being on the ice, which Liam had no doubt that he had.

He watched the joy spread across Theo’s face as he and Scott sat in the kiss and cry, listening as Theo scored a personal best, significantly higher than the skaters below him. In the end, he didn’t make it onto the podium, but he beat both Liam and Isaac, which made him much too smug in Liam’s opinion, but his new tactic of kissing the smirk right off of his face answered very well.

 

Their whole group went out to dinner again that night, and then Liam and Theo went back to their room. Isaac waggled his eyebrows suggestively, but Liam ignored it.

They didn’t have sex. Neither of them were ready, but maybe, they thought, when they got back home. Maybe then.

Instead, they put on a move and then ignored it entirely in favor of making out for a few hours before falling to talking and laughing and then falling asleep, no qualms about cuddling this time.

Theo had one more practice for his exhibition skate the next morning, but Liam woke up with him, kissing him until he was close to running late.

“Hey,” Theo said, when he came out of the bathroom, looking down at Liam, who was still laying across the bed, scrolling through his phone, “You want to be in my exhibition skate?”

Liam looked up at him. “I’m not skating in it,” he reminded him, “we would probably get in trouble.”

“So?” Theo shrugged, climbing over him, which was very distracting, as he still wasn’t wearing a shirt, “I want to skate with you.”

Liam narrowed his eyes at him.

“We could do it like Yuri style, but less gay,” he pressed, nuzzling his nose against Liam’s.

Liam snorted. “Dude, we just made out for, like, three hours last night,” he reminded him, reaching up to pass a hand through Theo’s damp hair, “Besides, I love your ex skate and I only get to see it one more time.”

Theo pouted. “But I don’t want to go to practice without you,” he complained, “It’s going to be so boring.”

Liam rolled his eyes and refrained from joking that Theo was needy. After his childhood, Liam figured, he was allowed to be a little needy sometimes. “There will be like twenty other skaters there,” he reminded him, “Go have fun. I’ll see you before the banquet.”

Theo grinned and kissed him lazily before sliding off of Liam and off of the bed. “Okay,” he sighed, finding a shirt and pulling it over his head, “See you later. Don’t just lay in bed all day.”

Liam would have loved to do exactly that, but Isaac and Hayden dragged him out to explore the city for one last day. The exhibition was as fun as it always was and Theo’s comedically dramatic skate was nothing short of spectacular. He didn’t see him again until they were back in their hotel room, getting ready for the banquet, and even that was far more rushed than he would have liked.

They ate a ton of food and mingled with the other skaters and listened to some terribly long speeches, and finally things began to wind down, people becoming less and less formal as the night wore on. Nobody seemed surprised to see Liam sitting in Theo’s lap and when they mentioned having only recently gotten together, a fair number of the other skaters didn’t believe them.

“Hey,” Theo said, “Can we take a picture for Instagram?”

Liam shrugged. “Why not?” he said.

“I mean like a couple pic,” Theo clarified, looking slightly anxious, “To tell everyone. About us.”

“Oh,” Liam looked at him and smiled, “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”

“Like this?” Theo asked, kissing Liam’s cheek as he raised his phone for the selfie.

“Like this,” Liam corrected, turning his face towards him and pressing their lips together, giving Theo plenty of time to remember to take the picture before pulling away, thumb still stroking Theo’s cheek as he smiled, watching Theo’s matching grin reflect back at him, “And caption it _#Thiam_.”


End file.
